Borough Approves Village District Zoning, Seeking Aesthetic Harmony

By Andrew Gorosko

The Borough Zoning Commission has unanimously approved Village District zoning, a set of zoning regulations intended to keep future commercial development in the Borough in “aesthetic harmony” with existing architecture.

Commission members approved the Village District “overlay zone” on May 29, after members discussed the comments that were raised at a public hearing on the zoning initiative. Commission members made a few minor changes to their proposal based on those comments.

The Village District zoning regulations take effect on June 6. The commission did not act on a set of “design guidelines” that accompany the zoning regulations. The commission is expected to act on those guidelines in the future.

The new zoning regulations are intended to preserve the appearance of areas in the borough with “business” and “professional” zoning designations. The intent of the rules is to “protect the distinctive character, landscape, and historic values” of the area.

(The full text of the new zoning regulations is published as a legal notice in this edition of The Newtown Bee).

Areas covered by the Village District overlay zone include properties with “business” and “professional” zoning designations along both sides of Church Hill Road between the Housatonic Railroad overpass and Wendover Road; areas with “business” zoning along both sides of Queen Street between its intersection with Church Hill Road and the traffic signal at the main entrance to Newtown Shopping Village; and the several individual properties with “business” zoning lying along the west side of Main Street between Newtown General Store and the intersection of Main Street and Sugar Street.

Last month, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members reviewed the Village District zoning proposal. In a May 27 letter to the borough zoners, P&Z Chairman William O’Neil wrote, in part, “We support your efforts and generally approve the proposed changes to your regulations. A number of ideas were voiced [by P&Z members] which might improve these regulations, and these will be sent to you separately for your consideration.”

In a May 22 letter to the borough zoners, Elizabeth Stocker, the town’s community development director, offered a critique of the Village District overlay zone, recommending numerous technical changes.

Among her many comments, Ms Stocker said the regulations lack a description of the application process that developers would follow in seeking construction approvals. Also, sections of the regulations are so broad that they do not provide applicants with a clear idea of what is allowable in the Village District, Ms Stocker added.

 Ms Stocker urged that the borough zoners provide architectural illustrations to describe the design elements in the Borough that the commission prefers. She also questioned the commission’s authority to regulate views of the Village District from outside that district, explaining that such zoning regulations cannot be used to control areas that lie outside the district.

Also, Ms Stocker questioned why the commission would greatly reduce the 40,000-square-foot size limit on office buildings and stores in the district. She also questions why the regulations would prohibit “professional offices” in areas with “business” zoning. She added that a required 50-foot-wide buffer area between commercial and residential properties may be too wide a buffer in certain cases.

Among other recommendations, Ms Stocker wrote that the commission should more clearly define the intent of the new zoning rules.

 

Public Comment

At the May 29 public hearing, James Gaston of 18 Main Street, told commission members, “I strongly support your village concept…Thank God, someone’s doing it…I think you’ve done a great job…It’s a great project…I think it’s a good job.”

Mr Gaston termed the new zoning regulations “pro-development.” Mr Gaston, an attorney, is the senior burgess on the Borough Board of Burgesses.

Of the Village District zoning project, architect Alan Black of 11-B Palestine Road supported the zoning rule changes. “I think it’s a step in the right direction,” he said.

Attorney Charles Campbell spoke on behalf of the Wiehl family, which owns three commercial properties in the borough that are affected by Village District zoning.

“It’s important that this [zoning] be tied to an application process,” Mr Campbell said, asking that a specific process be created for applications affected by Village District zoning.

Critiquing the zoning initiative, Mr Campbell said the regulations are too open-ended and too vague, adding that too much decisionmaking is left to the commission’s discretion.

Mr Campbell reviewed the various sections of the regulations, listing objections to many aspects of the rules. He urged that commission members make various technical changes to the rules so that the Village District regulations do not contradict other borough zoning regulations.

Mr Campbell questioned provisions of the Village District regulations that would regulate areas lying outside the Village District.

The attorney said that by requiring too much parking area on a site, the commission might prevent a site from being developed. He termed the amount of parking required “excessive.”

Also, Mr Campbell questioned why the commission would prohibit “professional offices” in “business” zones. He also questioned the regulations’ provisions on tree preservation.

The lawyer said that requiring a 50-foot-wide buffer area adjacent to residential properties could make certain commercial properties undevelopable.

At the public hearing, attorney Robert Hall represented himself, as the owner of the Newtown General Store building on Main Street. Mr Hall also represented Eton Centers, the firm that owns the Queen Street shopping center that holds the building that formerly housed the Grand Union supermarket. Mr Hall said he hopes that the Grand Union building eventually is extensively renovated for some new use.

“I think this is all premature,” Mr Hall said of the Village District zoning project. Mr Hall questioned the commission’s legal authority to adopt such regulations. The affected area is not specifically mentioned in the 1993 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, as is required by state law, the lawyer charged.

“What is it about Newtown’s borough that is worth preserving?” he asked. Main Street is worth preserving, he added. He urged that Main Street be included in the zoning project.

“You could impose these regulations on the whole borough,” he said.

The secret to the success of borough zoning is that the commission tends not to change the placement of various zones and does not change its zoning regulations, he said. The commission’s tendency not to change zoning regulations is the commission’s strength, Mr Hall said.

The regulations are not sufficiently specific in describing what construction is allowable on vacant properties, he said.

Mr Campbell, representing the Wiehl family, urged that the borough zoners wait until they receive specific, detailed comments from the P&Z about Village District zoning before they concluded the public hearing. Mr Campbell said he wanted to submit his comments in writing before the hearing closed.

Similarly, Mr Hall said he wanted to submit written comments before the hearing closed.

The commission, however, closed the hearing.

Members’ Views

Commission member Palmer Chiapetta said the commission’s intent in creating Village District zoning is not to stunt future development, but to have the borough be prepared with suitable zoning regulations for future redevelopment along Queen Street.

Member Lucy Sullivan said, “It’s a plan for the future. It’s not a system for ‘freezing’ the present.”

Member Brid Craddock said, “We want to promote quality development…Quality development promotes and attracts quality development.” Quality development increases the income of property owners, she said.

Commission Vice Chairman Brian Connolly said Village District zoning is intended as a regulatory framework for the future, which would address commercial growth in the Borough during the next 20 years.

Following lengthy discussion, the Borough Zoning Commission made some minor changes to its Village District proposal and then unanimously approved the new zoning regulations.

Borough Attorney Donald Mitchell said the commission would provide some visual aids to future development applicants depicting the commission’s preferred architectural styles.

Mr Mitchell noted that the Village District zoning concept was described in the 1993 town plan.

Aesthetic Zoning

Under the provisions of a 1998 state law, areas in such zoning districts that are visible from public roads in the district may be controlled through special zoning regulations, plus a series of design guidelines, pertaining to new construction, to substantial reconstruction, and to rehabilitation of properties.

The zoning project effectively provides the Borough Zoning Commission some of the visual controls that are in place within designated historic districts. The intent of the proposed Village District design guidelines is selectivity, and occasional restrictiveness, “to exclude designs that would erode the historic, cultural, and economic resource built up over generations,” according to the borough zoners.

The revised regulations seek to have new buildings and additions to existing buildings be visually compatible with the district in terms of size, scale, building materials, and site planning. Through the proposed rules, the commission seeks to limit building sizes to preserve the architectural scale of the area.

Through the Village District regulations, the commission requires that new buildings and modifications to existing buildings be constructed with appropriate materials and that construction designs be appropriate for a scenic and rural town in New England, observing appropriate architectural scale, rhythm, and proportion, and also avoiding monolithic forms.

Broadly, the regulations call for the architectural scale, proportions, massing, and detailing of proposed new construction to be in visual harmony with existing architecture.